Disclosure
by apharlovskaya
Summary: If only she didn't have twisted dreams. If only he didn't let the shadows of his past hover behind him. Their lives were connected like a spider's web, but one flick and it would all tear to pieces. "If only when we met, we didn't fall in love." Len/Rin
1. News

**A/N: So I looked at all my other stories, and they kind of sucked. No, they sucked a lot, so I decided I needed to improve my writing. This is kind of like a way for me to do that, like a sort of story to help me improve, to fend off writer's block and stuff like that. So, please review and give constructive criticism, I would really appreciate it. I don't own anything.**

* * *

><p>What did you really expect from me?<p>

I would deny it, except that there is really nothing left for me to possibly deny. I would say that I tried, but the thing is, I never tried. And I regretted… so, so much. It was a desire that ate me up, and I didn't want to fight it. The only thing I could do was slowly dissolve, to waste away in lies.

I'm sorry, Miku.

You see, I knew it all along. And when I realized it, acknowledged it, I simply didn't do anything about it. You never did, and I was so jealous of you and your blissful ignorance, living this world as if you had no worries. I thought that, maybe, we could continue this act. I would think that, if only, we would live as if we were only dust in the wind destined to be great, as they all say.

Until one of us inevitably drops dead, whether or not as peacefully in our dreams. And then the other will inevitably forget about us.

What can I say? We were friends who were stupid enough to tolerate each other. We were two faced children. We've abandoned each other for another. And that was the thing. When he came, I didn't need you anymore, but we were still pulled by fate to witness the laughs of one another's lives.

Let's never speak of this again. -Rin

* * *

><p>He was already reaching out for his umbrella when the loud ringtone resounded in the room. The merry jingle annoyed him, and as he clutched it in his pocket he resolved to change it. He flicked his phone open and grimaced at the caller ID.<p>

"What is it?" He grumbled.

"Len," the deep voice of his uncle answered, "You really need to respect people older than you are."

"Yeah, yeah," Len sighed as he put his shoes on. "So what really do you need this time?" Setting the phone on his shoulder, he opened the umbrella and was already prepared to race outside, thinking his uncle would ask him to get groceries or whatever. Apparently not.

"Visit me in my workplace, won't you? And stop by for some chips." Len's eyebrows scrunched together as he heard the instructions. He knew where his uncle worked, and knew just what he worked with. It wasn't exactly his cup of tea.

"Are you sure? I've got something to do soon and I-"

"Get on with it." He heard some noise and then the familiar _beep-_ of hanging up. Scowling at his uncle's audacity, he stomped out in the rain, soaking his feet with the puddles on the ground. Len debated for a while but ended up going to the convenience store and buying some garlic chips he knew his uncle hated, then he marched up to the eleventh floor of the Interconnections Tower.

In one of the booths he saw his uncle Leon, to which he was partially named after. Uncle Leon looked somewhat like him, but the similarities ended there. He was the complete opposite of bookworm Len, the social butterfly of the family, the so charismatic one whose favourite hobby was to bully his nephew. And Len was forced to endure it- he lived with the man, after all.

Len resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the smile Leon gave him.

"Here are your chips, Uncle," Len said leisurely, throwing him the bag of the nasty chips. He was secretly pleased at the disgusted look on Leon's face before managing to hide it behind a poker face.

"Sit down, Len." Leon commanded, pointing at an ottoman beside him. Len gazed at it for a while, thinking whether he should sit or not. It wouldn't hurt to be rebellious, after all. "Are you just going to stare at it?" Leon asked, and Len scowled at him before sitting down.

"So…" Leon started. Len stared at him expectantly. "Your parents have come back."

"_What?!" _He didn't know why he was so shocked. It was supposed to happen soon anyway, they promised him they would come back. But he was still shocked, and he refused to acknowledge that part of him saying that he never trusted his own parents in the first place.

"No need to shout, boy." Leon said, throwing apologetic looks at the co-workers beside him. "Didn't you hear me? They've come back in the country, and they're looking for you to move in with them."

Len's eyes widened. "When did you hear this?"

"This morning, while going to work. Summer ends in two weeks, and they've scheduled a flight for you a week from now, and enrolled you in a school there. It's done and done. You have no choice in the matter." Leon stated, looking bored in his seat. Len noticed that he had an opened box of cigarettes clumsily hidden behind his laptop.

Len scowled at his uncle, "It's not as if I enjoyed living with you anyway."

"Good enough then. I didn't either. So say goodbye to your friends this week, unlikely you'll ever see them again."

Leon wasn't joking, and Len could see it. They always hated each other, due to the fact that Leon absolutely hated Len's mother for marrying his brother. But it wasn't any of his business, and Leon was the bitterest about it. He was only meant to "say goodbye to his friends."

Len stood up and walked away without saying a word. He didn't have any friends.

* * *

><p>She checked the time on her wrist. 1:53. Not nearly enough time to prepare. Sighing, she grabbed the closest shirt she had next to her and skin-tight pants that she hated, changing into them without a single thought. Looking at her dishevelled figure in the mirror, she decided to throw in some accessories and earrings to her appearance.<p>

Never looked better.

Time wasn't kind to her. By two, she ignored her parents, flung herself into her car, and drove away to the one and only "mall" in this province. It was mostly just a clothing store and some restaurants, really. She lazily parked the car in the jammed parking lot, cursing at other drivers, listening to the radio blasting. The car door flung open, and she came out, walking lazily in the cold mall.

The teashop wasn't that crowded that day. Rin lazily inhaled the scent of chai tea, and walked over to a girl sitting alone in the corner. "Miku," she said, sitting next to her. "Sorry I'm late."

The girl looked up at her with excited eyes. "Who cares about that!?" She squealed. "Did you know?!"

Rin smirked at her. "No I did not know. Spill it."

Miku grinned. "Kaito noticed me, Rin!" She jumped in her seat, and Rin threw her a smile. In all honesty, Rin absolutely hated Kaito. "Can't you be more excited than that!?"

She rolled her eyes. "Miku, you barely said anything about this yet. How am I supposed to be excited?"

Miku calmed down and smirked at Rin. "Well, Mikuo and Kaito do know each other well," Rin grimaced at the sound of Mikuo's name. "Don't be like that, Rin!" She quickly amended with a smile. "So anyway, Kaito went over at my house today and we had a legit conversation."

Rin wrapped her fingers around the handle of the mug. Miku always knew her favourite tea. "What were you two talking about, anyway?"

"Oh, about school, homework and such." Miku sighed, waving her hand in a don't-care manner. "But did you hear?"

Rin wasn't even surprised at the sudden topic change. Talking to Miku was always like this, especially because Miku had a short attention span even with things she loved. Miku did not look like the average girl, partially because Miku always wanted to be a pop star, so she constantly kept in style. Somewhat, Rin knew it was an impossible dream, but supported her anyway.

"A new family is moving here!"

Rin's eyes widened as she looked up from the rim of the mug. She had to admit she was surprised. "A family… is moving in to this small town?"

"Yeah!" Miku exclaimed. "Isn't it exciting? What kind of person, a family especially, move in here?"

"Probably some oldies with no sense of humor." Rin laughed. It was just like Miku to get this excited over a family moving in here. But it was a nice change of atmosphere, especially since residents here knew everything about each other. Well, more or less.

"I guess," Miku shrugged. "Anyway, I've got a problem with Calculus…"

Rin shivered at the thought of studying. "Ah, I forgot about that. Me too..."

* * *

><p>Len dragged his bag as it skid on the floor of the airport. The lights blurred his vision too much, and he struggled with his sling bag to fish out his pair of glasses, clumsily putting it on him. He scanned the shops and the counters and benches until he saw two familiar figures.<p>

He walked over to them and they waved as soon as they saw him, and Len could see the annoyance behind their smiles. He doesn't smile back, and stops a meter away from them, looking at the space between their bodies.

Lia Kagamine had barely changed. She had dyed her hair into a platinum blonde almost silver, but she still couldn't shake off that stern, emotionless expression on her face. Loke Kagamine was even more so the same, his hair still in a ponytail longer than Len's own and falling over his face, round glasses perched on his nose and slight facial hair.

Honestly, he looked more like Leon than both of these strangers.

"Mom," Len uttered. "Dad, good afternoon."

Lia stayed silent and stared at him silently. Loke smiled and answered, "No need to be so formal. Let's go over to the car." Loke barely glanced at him as he and Lia turned to the doors of the airport, expecting him to follow. He sighed and did as they said, taking off his glasses and carelessly stuffing them in his bag.

He was lead to a Green Mitsubishi Adventure that Len only recognized because of Leon, and Loke jumped in the driver's seat and slammed the car door closed. Lia went over the passenger seat and did the same, and Len was left standing awkwardly before stepping inside the back.

"Where are we going?"

"Eden Valley. An hour and a half ride. Get comfy."

Len mentally groaned.

* * *

><p>I didn't expect anything when I arrived there.<p>

What could I say? I wouldn't be arriving in a place full of flowers and definitely not the same as the former. I wouldn't suddenly be popular and be liked by absolutely everyone. I wouldn't miraculously grow charismatic. I _definitely_ wouldn't fall in love and live a happily ever after.

No, I did fall in love. But it definitely did not come with a happily ever after.

Tell me, Kaito, would I have rotted away if I stayed with Leon? I wonder. Sometimes, I think that I would have been better there, in the city, hopelessly ignorant of her. I would shift and change every time, lie just like my stupid parents, and constantly fake my life.

I didn't want that.

Even so, it would have been better they said. More success, they said. Fame, comfort, luxury. But I've never thought of myself as shallow. And sometimes, the little, tempting things can bring the wisest person on earth to the ground, and I didn't want that either. Because the last thing I have right now is myself, and wouldn't it be such a shame if I would let go of that?

My life is full of questions.

I wouldn't say that we were the best of friends; we were a tilting building. But when she arrived, that building fell and crumbled, and we were too busy with our own lives to fix it back. And when the other little buildings we put up in this city, our world, shattered, we turned back and said:

_So this is what we started with._

Don't make me say it again. -Len

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading!<strong>


	2. Meeting

**A/N: Ok. This is, by far, the longest chapter I have EVER written. I know it might not be much to long-time fanfiction readers, but it was to me, and can I hope that it was good? Review to tell me what you think! :) Thanks to Juju-sama, Piriluk, and iloveyugiohGX93 for reviewing, favoriting, and following. Thank you so much, I appreciate the feedback! I don't own anything!**

* * *

><p>"<em>Do you believe in your dreams?"<em>

"_Yeah."_

"_Living it out is different from believing in it."_

* * *

><p>"Miku," a high-pitched voice questioned, "where are you going?"<p>

The person in question jumped, surprised at the sudden appearance of the blonde. She slowly turned in place and faced her best friend. "R-rin, uh… I'm just going to get some coffee."

Rin raised her eyebrows in clear suspicion. "Let me go with you, then…" She reached out beside her to the stand, but Miku caught her wrist before she could get a coat. Rin looked at her in confusion, and Miku instantly regretted it, wrapping her other hand around the doorknob.

"W-why are you even here, Rin? I thought you were at your house."

"You left something there, so I thought I'd come by and return it," Rin said calmly, staring at her friend in uncertainty. "Now, let's go get coffee…"

"Rin… please don't go with me." Miku stuttered, her eyes looking guiltily into Rin's. She slowly leaned on to the door, slightly opening it in preparation. Rin was frozen, not understanding until she saw the car keys in Miku's fingers.

"Miku… are you seriously going to the… city? You were serious about dyeing your hair?" Rin eyes widened, and she shook her hand out of Miku's grasp. She glanced at Miku's long brown locks and creased her eyebrows.

Suddenly the narrow entryway was too small for both of them.

"R-rin, I…" Miku started, uneasily.

"Are you crazy!?" Rin screamed compulsively. "You'll never make it in the city, Miku!"

Miku's eyes widened and she clenched her teeth in anger. "Rin, you'll NEVER know the city. You'll just be an old lady wasting away in this STUPID town!"

"At least I have sense."

"At least _I_ have dreams!" Rin twitched at Miku's smug expression.

Rin's insides were burning at the insult and at the frustration. She was seething, her fists clenched at her sides. How dare Miku leave her here? Without even telling her?! Rin's hands twitched, eager to stop Miku. "In there, you'll just be a little girl with no life, a COUNTRY BUMPKIN! You'll never make it big! You'll end up a lonely hobo!"

"Gumi! Gumi's coming with me! And she's definitely been a better friend than you!" Miku yelled back.

"What good is Gumi, Miku!? She's a stupid wannabe who doesn't know anything!"

"How dare you!?" Miku raised her hand, and a sharp sound of flesh hitting flesh resounded around the room. In that moment, a harsh silence fell in the hall.

Rin touched her swollen cheek in shock, her eyes wide and horrified at Miku, who stared at her hand in a wave of disbelief. The edges of Rin' eyes watered, and she looked down, shaking. "Miku… what the hell are you doing?"

Miku flinched at the hurt in Rin's voice, but she was determined to go. "Rin… I'm sorry." Miku swiftly turned away, and walked outside, not looking back as she slammed the door behind her. She flicked the tears away from the corners of her eyes, shaking her head. She's already made it this far, by this point there was no turning back.

'_Fuck you, Rin… I'm going to get famous, and you'll be bragging about even _knowing_ me after you see me in the papers.'_

Rin stared incomprehensibly at the spot Miku had stood, and punched the wall beside her with her fist, her eyes flaming with the thought of revenge. She turned and ran out of the house the opposite way, into the endless darkness of the forest, taking Miku's "ugly" coat with her.

* * *

><p>The car ride to Eden Valley was awkward, tense, and Len refused to talk to his parents or initiate any conversation. At first, Loke would ask him about the city or his friends, but curiously avoided any talk of Leon. Lia downright ignored him, and looked outside of the window before falling asleep. Len turned on his iPod and put on his headphones, and eventually they fell into a silence occasionally broken by Lia's breathing.<p>

After a while, he noticed that the songs in his playlist were repeating themselves, and he slowly sunk in his chair, taking his headphones off and letting them rest on his shoulders. Len breathed out in a sigh, and Loke noticed from the driver's seat. Loke raised his hand to turn the knob on the radio, and a familiar voice sprang up in his ears.

"_Don't listen to me- We'll always be… perfectly happy…"_

"Megurine Luka- Lie…?" Len whispered, half-dazed from sleepiness. Loke smiled, without keeping his eyes off the road.

"I knew her; you know… her hair is apparently a natural colour."

Len's eyes snapped open with sudden clarity. "Don't lie to me, dad."

Loke's eyebrows furrowed. "It's true. It's a salmon colour apparently inherited from her grandmother who had similar genes."

"You know I didn't mean that." Len was not amused. "It's impossible that you knew her."

"I did, though." Loke's carefree tone annoyed him even more. He had the feeling of being treated like a child.

"Shut up," Len said, glaring at the back of the driver's seat at his father. "She's incredibly famous right now, and you could have never known her the way you imply you do."

Loke sighed and didn't talk. Lia closed her eyes again next to Loke, and pretended not to have heard the entire conversation. The car ride continued in the tense, awkward silence, and no one apologized. Luka's song ended, and was replaced with the voice of a man.

"_Time check is- 2:10 pm, brought to you by Praline Enterprises!"_

Len briefly wondered why they could never just check their wristwatches for the time. Outside, they were speeding through crop fields, greenery, and stray animals and Len's thoughts moved on to what kind of place Eden Valley was. He didn't know whether or not he could really start a life there, but he doubted it. He always doubted it.

The last place he lived with Leon was lonely. School was rich, shallow, stupid, and biased according to the most popular donors to the building. People loved to spend and tell about it, and the ones who wouldn't or couldn't, well, they were outcasts. Just like he was. He was never looking for some excitement in school, just some sliver of peace, and he never found it.

They would talk, and Len had to be there, invisible, as they sputtered and spread some of the most ridiculous lies. It was, to put it in a word, boring. The drama that came with it was somewhat exciting, but noisy.

Len closed his eyes for what seemed like a second until Loke's sudden voice snapped his eyes open. "We're here."

…

The house was not that impressive, but what had he been expecting anyway?

It was just like the other houses in the area, red-topped and white-walled, with the exception of the green shutters. Two-stories of bare necessities, but Loke and Lia seemed comfortable with calling it home. They walked in the front door to a narrow entryway, and the living room and the kitchen. Loke led him up the stairs.

"This is where you'll be staying," he said, and then walked out of there like it was covered with flames.

Len scoured his eyes over his room. It was a very spacy room, empty and white. Boxes littered the ground, but a bed was lonely in the corner of the room, a dresser on the other side, a desk and a chair. A single wide window was in the middle of the room, and he walked up to it and looked outside.

Trees. Just endless trees, to the point where one could call it a forest.

He turned back to his house and started forcing the boxes to upchuck their contents. After sorting his books by author or publishing date in a shelf, he decided that he was bored. He knew there were still seven or eight boxes needing to be opened, but he wanted to do something different. The sun was already close to setting as he looked at the window again.

He walked downstairs and sneaked out to the front door, but a voice made him stop cold in his tracks. "Len," he recognized it as the smooth voice of his mother, "Where are you going?"

He didn't even turn around. "Nowhere." He slipped his shoes on and opened the door.

Lia didn't speak for a few seconds before Len heard the click-clack of her high heels on the wooden floor, walking away from him. "Be back home before dinner."

Len walked out without acknowledging her response. He thought about how fortunate he was to have Lia see him out, because he knew she didn't give a damn.

* * *

><p>Rin ran. She ran the farthest she could into the forest, her legs weakening, her heart beating fast, her teeth clenching and her mind racing because of Miku. She ran until she walked into a grassy clearing, the sun setting and the wind blowing gently, swaying the plants and the grass.<p>

She sighed as she plopped down on the ground, out of breath and not thinking properly. Leaning on a tree, she began to calm herself down.

_What was the name of that song again? The one that played on the radio today?_

_Ah… Lie. What a perfect title for the situation. _

Rin closed her eyes as she sang, the lyrics and rhythm mixing with the emotions, giving the song a different feel. It was no longer about a sad love gone wrong, but an angry one, hurt and madness mixed with the beat. She felt a tear slide through her cheek and she rubbed it away, annoyed that Miku had given her these tears.

She couldn't deny that she had just lost her best friend. And it hurt more than she would have expected.

"_I don't want you, I don't need you, it doesn't matter"_

"_I'll play along, writing our song…"_

Rin snapped her eyes open, looking around for the source of the voice that just continued her song. Everyone in this town knew her, knew Miku and her, did everyone know Miku ran away yet!? What will she say when they ask her!? She didn't even know if the person was a boy or a girl! She first thought it was masculine, but then again…

"Hello," a voice next to her said quietly.

She turned swiftly around to her right, and looked up to a boy half-hidden by the trees. A boy she had never seen yet in this town, smiling nervously at her, and instantly she stood up and backed away. He looked troubled, and reached out for her, but she pulled away. For the first time since she was Rin Nakahara, she had never felt any fear for a person. But this was a stranger, something she had never encountered before.

Len wondered if he had done something wrong. He resisted the urge to face palm. Not even half a day here, he already scared one townsperson. And then she would tell her family, her friends… and he'd become an outcast again.

And he was only wandering around in the forest.

He had heard a voice (probably this girl's) singing Lie. It was a beautiful performance, but there was something off about it for some reason. She didn't sing it like Luka did, but everyone didn't sing like each other. She wasn't off-beat, but there was still that aura of the song. It was just different, her own style.

Len couldn't resist the urge to approach her, and saw her crying, rubbing her eyes to ward off the tears. But she continued to sing, her eyes watering and her voice shaking. It was, in some twisted way, beautiful. Magical. Touching.

"_I'll play along, writing our song…"_

Now, he had creeped her out.

"Wait! I'm not bad or anything… I'm Len- I just moved in Eden Valley," Len said desperately as she tried to disappear behind the trees.

The girl's eyes widened. Rin had suddenly remembered a conversation that she had with Miku some days ago. _"A new family is moving here!"_

Whoops.

Rin half-hid behind the trunk of a tall cedar tree and peeked outside behind it shyly, embarrassed at her behaviour towards... Len? Len faintly blushed, realizing how cute this stranger looked, especially with her petite figure and bright gold hair. He cursed himself inwardly. "Uh… so, what's your name?"

The girl raised an eyebrow and stepped out of the tree's shadow, eyeing him carefully. "Len, aren't you…? Nice to meet you, I'm Rin Nakahara." She didn't offer her hand to shake or anything.

Rin noticed that she didn't offer her hand to shake too late. She blushed a deep crimson color at how rude she was being, while Len looked at her confused from his spot. He smiled again, and Rin wondered at how he could smile so easily and so nicely to boot. "It's nice to meet you Rin. Len Kagamine."

The two's eyes met, and Rin wondered something. "Hey, uh… Len, why are you out here in the forest?"

"Hiding from my parents."

She raised a hand to her mouth, trying to stifle her chuckles. Unable to stop it, Rin doubled over laughing, clutching her stomach. Len, embarrassed, looked down and was kind of angry at the audacity of Rin, even if it was stupid. He grinned just a bit, as the girl in front of him laughed her breath out.

"You don't have to laugh _that _loud," He argued.

"E-even so…" She scrambled for her breath and finally standing up straighter. "You sounded like a 7 year old!" She watched as Len creased his eyebrows in annoyance, and fixed her expression totally. "Oh… I'm sorry. I know I'm a terrible person…" She sighed, the humor leaving her completely.

Len's expression softened. He was annoyed at this girl, but she wasn't all too terrible. "You're not _that_ terrible. You just have a unique sense of humor."

Rin looked up at him (He was tall. Part of her was jealous), and grinned slightly, "How would you know? You've only known me for a minute."

"I just know."

She pouted. "You can't _just_ know. You have to know that person first!"

"Hmmm-mmm." Len smirked. "First impressions, Rin. They can tell you a lot more than a few years."

"Right," Rin started. "Pretty sure _you'd_ know, Mr. Popular."

Len raised his eyebrows in obvious surprise. "You think _I'm_ popular?" This time, he was the one who laughed.

"So you aren't?" Rin stated, not asked, seemingly unfazed at the laughs of Len. Miku _was _her best friend after all. She's experienced spontaneous laughter before.

"No… never." Len said, calming down. He looked down at Rin (the way she was so short made her look cuter, he thought, but immediately dismissed it), "You have a beautiful voice."

She blushed and didn't know what to say. "Uh… well, you sounded like a girl." She was hit on the head. "Ow!" Rin rubbed her head, glaring at the annoyed figure looking down at her.

"Rin," Len said, "don't say that ever again."

"Fine." Rin muttered. Len smiled.

"Good."

That was when both of them realized that they were not speaking like strangers, and in the exact same moment, they decided to just ignore that fact. Soon enough, they were speaking like they've known each other for forever, lying down on the grass seemingly cloud watching.

"Rin…?" Len asked hesitatingly. "Yeah?" Rin replied.

"Why were you crying?"

Rin froze. She didn't want to admit it, but losing Miku had hit her hard. She also didn't want to admit that she even knew a fool like Miku. But what she was most ashamed of is that she actually had faith in Miku, was best friends with her, trusted her, and believed in her. Rin always told Miku, "When we're adults, we'll go together… and we'll achieve your dream."

What had she told her?

She couldn't tell Len about Miku… probably never. She felt as if Miku was her dark, deep, guilty secret… that she'd have to explain to her parents later. So she did the sensible thing, closed her eyes, and kept quiet.

"Rin, I-"

"I don't want to talk about it."

That had them in an awkward silence that Rin regretted. Len wisely decided to break it. "I never liked singing."

"You sound great though," Rin said truthfully.

"I sound kind of like my mom. And I hate her." She didn't press further. Rin opened her eyes and noticed the dark sky.

"It's getting late. We should go home now." Len remarked. Rin cringed at the thought of confronting her parents who must know about Miku now, and Len wondered if he missed dinner. But they both had the same thing on their minds:

_Will we ever talk like this with each other again?_

"Hey Rin," Len started awkwardly, and was deeply embarrassed when he couldn't continue it.

"Tomorrow, same place, same time, 'kay?" Rin said, helpfully understanding Len's situation. Len smiled and nodded.

"See you Len."

"Goodbye, Rin."


	3. Normality

Len never felt so elated.

The sky was a light blue color that usually inhabited it right after sunset, and the wind softly blew on the trees. There was that curious feeling inside of him, that stirring deep inside of his stomach, which, for the first time, didn't feel like nervousness. It had automatically brought a smile to his face, not exactly a grin, but a smile nonetheless, and it even made him hum as he walked back to his house from the forest.

What exactly brought this feeling upon him, he didn't exactly understand. Whether it was a temporary high after meeting someone new for the first time (he knew it was childish; but it didn't stop him from being happy anyway), or actually knowing people and not making them run away, he didn't know. Or maybe it was the person himself, Rin Nakahara, the teary-eyed girl in a second, and then the energetic bubble the next.

Rin Nakahara.

To him, Rin Nakahara was an anomaly. He had never, ever met anyone like her; she was a book that could be opened and read, but not understood. It was like reading an encyclopaedia without having something exact to look for, because she had something hidden. Secretive, closed off, but at the same time... so _open._ He would think that someone who's known her for so long wouldn't notice the difference, but someone like him, who's only seen met her now would. He knew that there was something beneath the spirited façade.

He had to admit it. Len Kagamine, despite all his introvertedness, wanted to know more about Rin Nakahara. Because not only was she his first… (Dare he say it?) friend, but there was something about her that drew him to her, something… different.

But Len's train of thought was broken as he arrived outside his home. His hands in his pockets, he walks towards the front door, his brief feelings of happiness crushed with the prospect of seeing his parents.

He opens the front door as silently as he could, but it still fills the room with a creak. He didn't bother yelling, "I'm home," because as he looked past the narrow entryway, Len couldn't find Loke or Lia anywhere in the living room or the kitchen. The dining room was empty as well, but Len figured they'd eaten already, seeing the crumbs on the table. Sighing in somewhat relief, he trudged up the stairs as soundlessly as he could.

Len barely made it up to the alien room that was meant to be "his" before he heard the faintest of whispers from the chamber across his own. His hand froze on the cold metal doorknob, half-turned in his palm, his eyes glancing slightly to the mahogany door, contemplating on the pros and cons of eavesdropping. Why would he even want to eavesdrop anyway?

He knew, though. He knew why he wanted to eavesdrop. And that was the childish notion of wanting to rebel.

Len's hand left the doorknob and brought his other palm on the flat of the wooden door, pressing his ear beside it. For the first few seconds, he was annoyed at the little buzzes the whispers were creating in his ears, disappointed at the lack of information. Suddenly, Lia's voice rang clear in his ears, haunting him with the bluntness of her message, pronounced exasperated, perhaps said a bit louder than what was meant to.

"_I'm tired… What do we do about him?"_

Len pushed himself off the door and then widened his eyes before it shockingly, his mind still ingesting the information that he presumed was of himself. No, what was he thinking, it _was_ of himself! Who did he think it was about anyway? It could only be him! Any remnant of that previous high no longer existed, and instead pummelled into a saddening hopelessness. For a brief moment, Len wondered why he even cared; didn't he hate Loke and Lia? Didn't he, as Leon once eloquently put about his coworkers, not give a fuck?

Even so, the thought of his parents talking about him like he wasn't there _after_ taking him away from his comfortable (although lonely) city life, _after_ ignoring him like nothing, saddened him. He knew to an extent that Lia hated him to her very being, and he understood that she knew that he hated her to _his _very being, but he hadn't expected this blatant show of indifference. And yet, Len knew that Lia had the hatred for him to do that. They were similar that way, Len getting most of his traits and habits from Lia. Len hated himself for being like her, but honestly…

If he had the personality of Loke…

Len barely glanced back at his parents' door before Loke could even utter a "shush," to what Len believed to be his demonic wife. By that time, he slammed the door as loud as he could, and wasn't surprised at all at the stunned silence on the other side. Instead, he jumped on the bed, closed his eyes and covered his ears from the buzzing noise with loud music. He regretted hearing anything at all.

* * *

><p>Rin was not happy.<p>

Walking with the knowledge of Miku's… betrayal, one may call it, was not at all pleasurable. Walking around with the scent of her perfume on her coat was even worse, and the more she walked, the more she wanted to rip it off and then continue on in the cold. But Rin knew that getting a fever was not worth it, even though getting a fever would allow her an excuse for not talking to Miku's parents. Yet Rin couldn't bear to be sickly. She was just that kind of person.

The blonde pondered on it for a while as she walked the small distance between the clearing and her home. Miku had gone somewhere outside here, with Gumi possibly. Everyone knows Gumi is an orphan, so no parents will ask about her, but she had a sister, if Rin could remember properly. No one would be surprised at Gumi's absence. She, with her spontaneous personality, had always preferred to go on sporadic absences.

Miku was a whole different case, though. Miku was popular, well-liked, loved by so many… and she was her best friend. If Miku would be gone, Rin knew that all the suspicion would fall on her first. But what could Rin do? Tell the truth? What could possibly happen, anyway? Miku's parents would no doubt confront her, and, she thinks as she walks on, school was starting in a week. Miku did _not_ choose a convenient time.

Rin sighed. This was becoming too much for her.

For the first time in the whole afternoon, Rin let her thoughts drift away from her _former_ best friend. Automatically, she thought about the guy she met earlier with his blonde hair and green eyes and that air of loneliness hanging around him, sadness and annoyance all mixed up in a strange bundle of aura. He seemed to walk with a handicap, hands shoved in his pockets, eyes set down on the ground, slouching slightly. But she was intrigued by the fact that he talked to her like he knew her forever, and could smile and laugh so easily.

She grinned as she walked, a bounce colouring her step. _It's a good thing he came along after Miku… left,_ Rin thought, _It's a plus that he's hot…_ _Wait, what!?_ Rin stopped in her tracks, red filling up her face. She shook off the thought and continued, still somewhat embarrassed. Len was her _friend_! Well, she _thinks _he's her friend, but mostly he's still a stranger, right? Just an incredibly friendly stranger that was also hot…

But no.

Rin arrived to her house still thinking about it, her hand turning the doorknob distractedly, stumbling inside. Gently closing the door, she went inside calling out, "I'm home!" as usual, and then turning to the living room and crashing on the sofa haphazardly, the pillows thrown in all directions. Rin ripped off Miku's coat none too gently, and then snuggled in the warmth of the sofa.

"Rin!" Mrs Nakahara shouted from behind the couch, "I told you to stop doing that!"

"But moooooomm," Rin whined, "It's comfortable."

"You'll break our sofa if you do it again," Mrs. Nakahara argued, her eyes narrowing. She, like Rin, was a petite woman with smooth pale skin, but Mrs Nakahara had the grey eyes and platinum blonde hair of a usual Nakahara. Although both Sunako Nakahara and Rin Nakahara had the same energetic personality, Sunako could cook so well she was famous among the valley, but Rin could only come up with a black char. Much like Miku could, except Miku could make rice at least.

Oh yeah. Miku.

Mrs Nakahara sighed and looked down at her daughter, "Don't do that ever again."

"You're not going to tell me to get off the couch?"

"Nah," Rin's mother said (she always used slang for some reason, Rin guessed it was because of her father), she instead plopped down on the one-seater, put her feet up the coffee table, and leaned her head back. "What's done is done, and getting off the chair won't do much."

Rin grinned. This is why she loved her mom. Hana was a rarity among middle-aged caretakers, still young-ish looking and with an unhealthy obsession for Halloween, and yet she was quite a failure as a mother. She was awkward, blunt, and uncaring, but Rin had gone past that and accepted it. She knew she couldn't count on her for sympathy.

"Hey Rin, do you know anything about what happened to Miku?"

There it is. Do you see what Rin meant?

"Really?" Rin said, faking widened eyes and a bit of a shocked tone, "I don't know anything." Yes, Rin might not be the brightest crayon in the box, but she could slide through situations like this with a smile.

Hana raised her eyebrow in doubt. "Are you sure? They called me in, saying that she was missing from her home, their car gone, with no note, no anything. They've been waiting for her to come back for three hours now." She gazed at Rin with a half-lidded look in her eyes that she usually used when suspicious of her. Rin returned back with an innocent blink (yes, she could do that), and forced her look at her mother.

"I said, I didn't know," Rin shrugged, wearing a nonchalant expression this time.

"Surely you would have some sort of idea?" Hana said, still not breaking their silent stare off. Rin tried her best not to cringe, it was always like this with her mother; like she said, Hana had no problem getting to the point.

"I said I didn't. I last saw her this morning, 'kay? And she was alright. Besides, she could have just went out for a little while. She's coming back soon, most likely." Rin said as calm as she could, fighting the guilt and the sadness. Why couldn't she have just told the truth?

Was she actually afraid of her mother?

Rin never hated Miku more than that moment.

* * *

><p>He couldn't believe he was doing this.<p>

The first half of the day was spent in a blur. From waking up to the awkward silence over the breakfast meal, the morning was terrible. He couldn't explore the town either (it didn't seem that there was much to explore, though) in the afternoon because unpacking his belongings was a priority. Loke and Lia refused to bring up yesterday to him, and barely spoke to him as well, exchanging unreadable expressions over the table.

And yet, the sun was about to set again as he looked over the green forest from his bedroom window. He hesitated; his hand clutching the window pane, eyes scouring the forest green for some sort of sign, or something, anything. Even when he received nothing (he didn't know what to expect in the first place, so it didn't come as a shock), he shrugged on his coat to the world outside.

...

She wasn't really sure what to expect.

After all, she only met the guy the day before; it wasn't as if she expected him to be there or anything. But there was a little – she was lying; it was more like a big part of her – that looked forward to her meeting him. She had, admittedly, anxiously waited for this time for the better part of her day, which resulted to some curious looks from her parents.

In fact, she didn't exactly know why she was so excited. She thinks that meeting a new person in this small town is very rare (the last time was when Rin was ten), but she knows that there is another reason besides simple curiosity. He felt like home to her; they talked like they were old friends, they were laughing and interacting like they knew each other since forever. He felt… _right_ to her. And that was such a rare feeling she believed it.

…

Len stepped out the back door, walking towards the forest quietly, his shoes making no noise on the grass. The only sound was the chirping of the birds, the false peace betraying the disarray in his mind. He thinks for a while as he walks, not paying attention to where his feet were taking him. Eventually, the green trees merged into a whole blob of color, and Len stopped to realize:

_Wait, where the fuck am I?_

He _tried_ not to panic.

Len closed his eyes and breathed out slowly, trying to think of a plan. Yet (as expected), no plan magically came out of his then stupid mind, and so he decided to wander around until he might find either home or the clearing. Reluctant, but seeing no other option, he started walking to nowhere. Len had only reached about a few meters away from his original spot before a voice stopped him.

"Oh," a somewhat familiar tone breathed.

Len turned quickly, and saw the blonde-haired girl he met yesterday. His eyes widened a bit as he saw her, surprised and quite pleased at the coincidence. _Being stupid actually has benefit…_, he thought as he looked into her eyes. For some reason looking at her clear blue orbs relaxed him a bit, but he dismissed it as being relieved for some way out of the stupid forest. She looked somewhat different, not as dishevelled or open as yesterday, more neat and arranged.

But Len couldn't help but think of how much he preferred yesterday's version.

"Um…," he stuttered out, "I'm lost." Oh, he felt really sorry for himself. That little voice in his head laughed at him.

"You're… lost," she repeated, looking as if she was trying her best not to drop laughing. Len remembered yesterday's incident, and glared at her. She coughed and continued, "Ok, do you want to go back to the town, or…?"

Secretly, she was hoping she'd stay with her. Of course there was the possibility he was just lost in the forest, wanting to go home (unlikely, though), and also the chance he had never considered her offer to begin with, but she had hope. She sort of wanted to get to know Len a bit better… and she wanted to shake off the fact that she was being such a giggling schoolgirl. Well, her laugh was sort of giggle-ish, and she does go to school, but you know…

She didn't want to become weak.

Rin put her hands behind her back and cupped her hands together, the one-second span that he took to answer feeling like an hour. He finally answered her, "Clearing. Do you go there a lot?"

She resisted the urge to sigh in relief. That would definitely make her seem too easy – but she's not looking for a relationship, is she? – And instead started walking to the right direction. He had, actually, been moving that exact same way, and she applauded his initiative in her mind. "Yeah, I guess… it's so peaceful there, so…"

"You need the silence?" Len asked.

She nodded in affirmation. "Yeah. Something like that."

The conversation was clipped short there, and they walked in a half-uncomfortable, half-okay silence, each wanting the other to open up a topic. Then they set foot in the clearing, the tree's leaves slowly moving with the wind. It was a cold night that day, and Rin plopped down on the grass first, lying down and looking up the darkening sky.

"Hey Len… why did you decide to move in here?"

Len didn't say anything at first, walking up to Rin and standing beside her head, observing the slow dance of the scenery. Finally, he spoke, his voice growing quieter. "I didn't choose to move in here."

Rin didn't miss a beat. "Yeah, most people didn't choose to."

"I didn't know why I didn't want to. It wasn't like I liked my old life there… it wasn't too fulfilling," Len said, closing his eyes and sighing, as if he was trying to breathe his past away. He sat down on his spot, his hands supporting him up. "Why do you ask anyway?"

"Nothing… just curious." Rin answered honestly, "I've lived here all my life, so I can't exactly imagine another place."

"It isn't that much different. New people, new buildings and all that, but you still live the same way." He looked at her, "Do you really want to leave this place that much?"

She looked back up at him, green and blue clashing in a somewhat dreamy mixture. Terrifying. "Well, kind of, I guess. There's not really much to do here… and I want to be excited, Len! I want to do something different!"

Len stared at her with an unreadable gaze, "Rin," He glanced up at the sky with her, noticing that it definitely had more stars than the last place he went to, "It's a good thing you have dreams."

Rin returned his gaze, tearing her eyes away from the stars. "Don't _you_ have dreams?"

"Nah, well not so much I guess… I still need to kind of figure out what to do right now, suddenly moving someplace else and all that." He studied her face but did not find the usual emotions he found on someone after he said that sentence. "You're not going to judge me for it?"

"I used to think that dreams were good to have… they all tell us that, now don't they? But dreams can make people do the weirdest things…" Rin whispered out vaguely, more to herself then to Len. He didn't question her about it, them falling into a now familiar quietness.

Their conversations, Len noticed, were always like this. They would have a particularly random topic, and then a long silence followed, one that they were now comfortable with. It's probably because of their tendencies to have a time to think after every chance to talk, and it made Len wonder how Rin handled that with her other friends. Did they pause after talking to her all the time?

"Hey Rin," Len spoke out of the blue. "What are your other friends like?"

Rin froze at the question, and looked at him in the corner of her eye. When she saw only a questioning gaze thrown at her, she sighed. "Well… there's Miki, Lily, Ann, Sonika, Yuki – she's like a little sister to me – and, well, I have a lot of friends, I guess. So I can't really describe them all to you."

"Don't you have any best friend?"

Rin didn't reply. Instead, she frowned, the strange expression burning on her face.

"Well," Len started, "I guess I had one, back two or three years ago. He was a die-hard fan of Megurine Luka, you know, he loved all her songs and even tried to dye his hair into a pink color like hers, but failed. It ended up in a purplish, long and weird hair. He didn't even care, saying it looked good on him." He laughed, and Rin giggled with him.

"I don't even remember how I became friends with him or why. But it was fun, for a while. Then he moved away, and I don't know… there wasn't even a proper goodbye. It was just over, I guess." Len stared in front of him like the answers to life were hidden among the trees, his eyes glazed and thinking.

"Best friends are the stupidest, I guess."

"Yeah, you're right," Len agreed. He stood up, dusted off the grass on his pants, while Rin sat up lazily. She looked at him, "It's not really that late yet, you know."

"Yeah, but I have to go. It's almost dinner time." Len looked at her. "When do you have dinner time?"

"Whenever my dad comes home. He eats the most, anyway." Rin said nonchalantly. "I'm going to stay here for a while, I guess. Same place, same time tomorrow? "

"If that's alright with you," Len replied. "By the way," he bent down close to her, his fingers brushing against her chin, forcing her eyes to lock in with his. "Smile… you look shitty with a frown." He walked away from her sight then, only hearing her loud, "Excuse me!?". He definitely didn't see her blush.

See, Len had been friendless for too long. He must have forgotten how to deal with other human beings except for the direct, blunt way he always does.

Rin didn't say anything after that. She only stared at the ground in confusion.

* * *

><p>"Don't you dare say anything," Rin whispered into her phone as she sat on her yellow bed. "I know it's weird, but he seems to be a really good person."<p>

"Yeah, but…" A loud, peppy voice rang into her ear. "You _already _like him?! Isn't that too… soon, or whatever?"

"I don't _like _him! I just want to kind of… get to know him better and stuff!" Rin protested through her phone. "Lola, I know that you have some mental disease, and that you're several miles away, but you _still _act like you know everything."

"Hey, I'm just imparting my pearls of wisdom on my dear little niece!"

Rin rolled her eyes while her supposed "aunt" talked. "Uh… you know I'm not your niece, Lola."

"But I've known you enough to be! Whatever, just make sure you're doing fine out there. I'm worried, you know!" Rin smiled, but then she thought of Miku, and Len... and then sighed away from the phone. _It doesn't really seem that I'm fine…_

"Yeah, I'm totally fine! Bye bye, _Aunt_ Lola!"

"Don't call me that-beeeepp" Rin hung up on her. She sighed as she leaned back on her bed frame, managing to stare off into space for absolutely no reason before her phone started ringing obnoxiously loud with the same monotonous ringtone. She angrily picked it off her bed and then glared at it, before realizing the caller id was not Lola.

_Mrs. Hatsune_.

She ran to her drawer, opened it and threw the phone inside.

…

Len decided it was time to explore the town. After all, being cooped up in the same choking house for two days was taking its toll on him, and so he put on his shoes and went out to what they called the shopping center. It was a very small place compared to the mall at his old home, but he went inside anyway and stepped into a crowded café.

He decided to order some drink for a while to "try out new things" like his guidance counselor had advised him on one session (everyone was forced to have 'sessions' back then, it was terrifying) before noticing there was only one seat open. That seat was beside the huge glass window, across the table where a bored-looking young guy sat as well. He was drinking some sort of weird brown slush, but then again drinks here were colored quite creatively. His was a powder blue.

Len approached him because he did not want to drink this outside awkwardly. There weren't really seats outside, so he had to carry it all the way home, and then drink it there, but he had enough of home. And also, didn't he want to change? He should be able to talk to more people, at least.

"Uh…," Len started awkwardly, "Can I sit here? There's not really anywhere else to anyway."

The bored man glanced up at him and nodded towards the seat, and he sat there thankfully. The double whipped cream blue drink actually tasted awesome, and he was actually very surprised at the flavor. As he sat there sipping it, the man looked across him and said, "Enjoying it, aren't you? That's one of the best flavours here."

"Really? I didn't know that, but it does taste awesome." Len noticed that the man actually had blue hair. It was a very dark blue that could almost be mistaken as black, but a blue nonetheless.

"It's incredibly popular, you've got good taste for someone who looks like a tourist. Speaking of which, I've never seen you here before."

Len did not feel offended at the tourist remark. He himself knew he looked kind of out of place here. "Yeah, I just moved in here. The name's Len."

"High school student? What year?"

"Yeah, second year." He briefly wondered why he was being interrogated for this.

"Well, welcome to Eden Valley, Len. My name's Kaito, and I'm the school president of Praline Academy," The man stood up and left the table, leaving Len with a wide-eyed look. Rin wasn't kidding when she said this town was too small.

* * *

><p>"So," Len said, "There's only one school here, now isn't there?"<p>

Rin didn't look up from the orange flowers she was examining. She picked one of them off and walked to Len's side, sitting down heavily beside him. "Well, isn't that obvious?"

"Oh."

Rin laughed. "Yeah, no shit Sherlock, Len."

"So doesn't that mean we would be classmates? There's only one class per year level, isn't there?"

"Well, I guess you're right," Rin thought, "Wouldn't that be really fun?"

"By the way, do you know of any school president or whatever?"

"Huh?"

"Never mind."

Rin and Len had been getting to know each other for some while, and Len could confidently say that Rin liked strawberries, while Rin could most definitely look at Len without blushing madly. Poor Len had no idea on what he did, but Rin had fortunately had the sense to crush anything close to romance. She had enough of that, and just wanted a new friend.

"So Rin," Len suddenly said out of the blue, "I haven't heard your voice since we've met."

Silence. Not the kind that they were used to.

"Well," Rin said finally, "You're never hearing it again."

"Oh, come _on_!" Len pestered. "Please, please, please sing something for me."

"Sing something? Hm... It depends, I guess…" Rin thought. She knew that Len would want to let her sing something stupid, but he was technically her friend now, so maybe she'd consider it. They were alone, after all…

"Uh…," Len didn't know what to say for once. "Well I made this song…"

Rin jumped on him. "You made a song!? Wait, you _make _songs? God, show me! Show me! I'll definitely sing it!" Len looked at her with this weird expression on his face, a mix of happiness, shock, and that what-do-I-do-now kind of thing. He took a small paper that was folded way too much out of his pocket, and smoothed it out.

"So, uh, it goes like this…"

"_The town is filled with brilliant light_

_The chill of anesthetic ether_

_2 AM, and I can't sleep_

_Everything is changing so fast"_

"I was sort of thinking of you while making it…," Len admitted.

"Thank you, Len," This time, Rin smiled from ear to ear. She laughed, "Now, why don't you show me other songs you make…"


	4. Appearances

**A/N: First of all, I am SO SORRY. I just... ugh. This was horribly later than I thought, AND I forgot to thank the ones who reviewed, favorited, and followed the last time. Ok, so I'll thank them now with an extra-long chapter! Millions of thanks to the ones reading!**

* * *

><p>Rin didn't think she had that of an unusual hobby. After all, drawing is quite a common pastime, isn't it?<p>

She didn't really know if she could call it a hobby, though. As the days wore on and she got older, she seemed to have lost interest in the pen and paper. Slowly her sketchbooks disappeared somewhere deep behind her closet, and she stopped thinking about it altogether. She forgot about it until now only because she had moved on to more "fulfilling" things.

(Fulfilling my ass. If anything, being a shopping partner only because you can carry the bags is not at all deserving of your time, said that little voice inside her head. Rin shut it down, because it was really getting annoying)

For some weird reason today Rin was overcome with the sudden feeling of wanting to draw. She rushed up to her room, her fingers twitching for a pencil and then digging up her old half-empty sketchbooks. After fishing out a pencil from her pencil case (which also reminded her of the upcoming new school year *cringe*), she collapsed on a nearby chair.

She hadn't done this in years. The pencil hovered above the paper uncertainly before crashing down.

She didn't know how or when, but she had started drawing the now familiar face of Len. She drew his down set eyes and anti-social expression (which she would never admit she found cute), blond messy hair and slightly slouched figure. She shaded his eyebrows on and she made him look at her like he usually did – with a slight smile and head to the side like that, reaching out for locks of blonde hair –

Ok, stop, Rin commanded herself, blushing to the roots of her own blonde locks.

And yet, Rin had always drawn what she wanted. Len came out just like she wanted him to in real life, and she secretly grinned to herself before shaking her head rapidly. Yes, she knew somewhat that she did like Len, but if there was a chance in hell that that could be reversed, she was taking it. So she was trying to squash all thoughts of him, but her mind was definitely not cooperating.

"Think of it," Rin sighed, "I didn't want him to come here…"

_Then again, I'm sure you liked it~ _The little voice cooed. _Shut up! _She replied, face palming (a stupid habit, she knows). Yeah, her mind _definitely _wasn't cooperating.

She sighed, and for the next few minutes sounds of pencil scratching filled the room, followed by eraser shavings on the floor. He wore an outfit that was not what he usually wore – which was the ordinary ensemble of simple jeans and shirt – but a pop star get-up somewhat inspired by the boys' school uniform where she studied at. Rin laughed at the thought that it would be the school where _they_ studied at soon.

_So you _are _looking forward to it._ Rin shook her head at her own stupidity.

She placed the new drawing on the side of her table, and started cleaning up. She didn't like to place color in her drawings, because they always were off from the original – like how she could never color in the blue in Len's green eyes – so she left them in white and pencil gray, and it made the drawing feel more personal somehow.

The door banged open, and Rin jumped with a start. "Well, well, well," the clear voice of her mother rang out in the room, "my little delinquent, not greeting us as soon as you arrived. How have I raised you?"

Rin laughed, "Huh? Um yeah, I guess I was kinda distracted." She discreetly tried to cover up the drawing with both hands.

Hana's eyebrow raised. "Oh? What's that you're hiding?"

_Fuck._

"What do you mean I'm trying to hide?" Rin asked, trying her best to cover up any fear in her eyes. Her mother could _smell _that. She went through the list of commands in her head: get the drawing, open the table drawer, throw the darn drawing in, and close it, all in secret. Hana took a few steps toward her and smiled, leaning closer to the side. "Now, now, tell me what you're trying to hide."

"I'm not hiding anything!" Rin walked backward discreetly, closing her fingers upon the drawer knob. She pulled it open slowly as her other hand threw the drawing in, and then closed it silently. Putting both her hands up she almost yelled, "See, nothing!"

Rin almost sighed. _God, what is this? A robbery?_

Hana narrowed her eyes but sighed, "Whatever. Just go to the dining room, it's dinnertime. Ryou's waiting for you." Hana pointed outside with her thumb, looking at her daughter in small annoyance.

Rin's eyes widened. "Crap, knowing dad he'll finish everything!" She rushed out, scared for her food's existence. But really, it was mostly because she was relieved to get away from her mother (which was really pathetic, she knew).

Hana stood on the doorway, watching as her daughter skipped down the stairs. Looking side to side as if someone was there to catch her, she crept in Rin's room and to the table, smiling evilly as she eyed the ripped sketchbook laid open on the wood_. Drawing, huh, she hasn't done that in a while…_ Hana thought, opening the drawer and eying the paper inside curiously.

"It's a boy." She said deadpan, inspecting the surprisingly well-done drawing. The boy in the drawing was about Rin's height, with spiky hair and … she thinks Rin would call it "emo" thing going on. Because he never saw him on TV, and because Rin was never the girly type no matter how much she seemed to be, she thinks that this might be a guy that Rin actually met.

But what the heck was with those clothes? It was either the guy or Rin having no taste.

She jumped as she heard her daughter yell at her husband - "Dad, I swear those shrimps were made for me!" - putting the paper back in the drawer she closed her eyes and wondered what the hell Rin was getting into.

* * *

><p>"Ok," Len started with a cough. "So…uh, who were you looking for in the streets?"<p>

He eyed the girl in front of him. He "discovered" her walking helplessly on the streets, looking everywhere and wandering like a lost puppy. Yeah, he knew that he should just leave her alone – that's what he'd usually do on most days – but he wanted a new start. Wasn't that how he became friends with Rin? Or even had the courage to talk to Kaito?

She said that she was lost (obviously) and that she was looking for someone. So being the good person he is, he tried to calm her down and treat her to some drink in that café he met Kaito in. Sipping the blue drink he ordered last time, he watched with amusement as she glanced everywhere in the café, laughing as she reminded him of a paranoid animal. "Yeah, sometimes even I get lost when I cross that pass." _So that's how she got lost._

"Well, uh… but wait, what's your name?"

She looked unnatural, Len thought, because of her bluish hair that did suit her a bit, but was annoyingly eye-catching. People glanced at them from all sides, and from their looks they did know her, so she wasn't a tourist. Why didn't she just ask help from people she knew then? Why aren't her friends approaching her? Len tried to hear them talking.

"_She looks so familiar… wait, isn't she?" A teen whispered to her companion._

"_I haven't heard from her in a while, plus… *whispering* - if she's even the right person."_

The weird blue-haired girl didn't even react to the not so secretive whispers. _Is she that stupid?_ Len wondered. He resisted the urge to sigh in defeat. He had decided to help _this _person of all people… oh well. "Uh… your name? Mine's Kagamine Len." He said awkwardly.

She looked up at him shyly, "Nice to meet you, Len! My name's Miku!" Len nodded.

"Ok, so Miku who were you looking for anyway?"

She looked up and Len guessed she was thinking about it. He thought that she was a bit of an airhead, but he could have underestimated her. "Gumi! Yeah, I was looking for her. Have you seen her? She has this really green hair, with matching eyes and she's about my height."

Len shook his head, "Green hair, huh? Is coloured hair a trend or something nowadays?" He blushed, suddenly feeling very old. He was really out of the trend nowadays, because it's not like you would find him in a clothing store. Does he even care? Should he sneak some of Lia's magazines out?

Miku fingered her own teal locks, ignoring Len's blush. "Well, not really, I just decided to dye my hair this way to match Kaito's! But a bit more girly, I guess. For Gumi, I think that she just dyed her hair for fun! To match her eyes!" She said, touching her pointer finger to her thumb to make a circle around her eyes.

"Kaito? The guy with the blue hair?"

Miku brightened up. "You know him? Well, everyone knows him. Aren't you the son of the new family that moved in here?"

"Uh… yeah, how did you know?"

Miku waved her hand. "Please, that's basic knowledge. You're one of the first people to move here in… centuries!"

Len raised his eyebrow in amusement. "For centuries?"

"Well, I might be exaggerating a bit, but you know what I mean!" Miku laughed. "Hey, if you know Kaito, then you must know Rin, right?"

"Rin?" Len asked, interested. "Rin Nakahara?"

"Yeah! Blonde and blue-eyed girl, with black pins on her hair."

"Oh yeah, I met her when I first came here." He didn't mention if they were friends or not. Len thinks they're friends, but what if Rin didn't too? He didn't want to be embarrassed about it, plus he didn't want Rin to think that he was desperate.

"Well, we're best friends!" Miku said proudly. Len tilted his head; Rin didn't tell him anything about having a best friend. Especially a best friend with teal hair, and after telling her about Gakupo, he'd think she would have told him about Miku too. "Really? Rin didn't mention anything about you."

After seeing Miku's crestfallen face, Len thought that probably wasn't the right thing to say. Why does he always have to screw up like this? He suddenly remembered that inside joke about him and human interaction, and shook that thought away from his mind. "Well, we had a bit of a falling-out last time I saw her, but I'm pretty sure now that I'm back, everything'll be okay!" Miku said, smiling again. Does she ever drop that grin?

"You're back? From where?" Len asked, putting his drink down. Miku was drinking a blood red watery shake, and he wondered if that was what strawberry looked like here.

"From the city, of course!" Miku said, grinning from ear to ear. "I've always wanted to go there, and now I did." Len immediately thought of something Rin told him just some days ago:

"_Hey Len," Rin said, looking up from the flowers she was picking. "Did you like it in the city?"_

_Len continued to look up into the sky, "Well I didn't like it that much, but I guess it depends on the person." He turned to meet her eyes and asked, "Why?"_

"_Oh, nothing. I've always wanted to go there, you know, but it seems someone got there before me."_

At that moment, Len really believed they were friends, if not now, then before. After all, they both had big dreams. "Why did you come back?"

"…"

An awkward silence hovered over the table. Miku looked down and continued sipping her drink, refusing to meet Len's eyes. Len regretted opening his mouth in the first place. After all he always screws shit up, so maybe he shouldn't try changing anymore. Wasn't he always this socially awkward person? Does he even deserve friends? Then again, it doesn't matter if he doesn't deserve it. He _wants_ to be more social, kind of like his uncle. Or parents.

You could say he was kinda the out of place sort of guy.

"So about Gumi… you said you were looking for her." Len said suddenly, remembering the more important topic at hand.

Miku's eyes suddenly widened and her head shot up, looking at Len with a worried look in her eyes. "Gumi! Oh my god, she must be so worried!" She jumped out of the seat and took her small blue bag with her, pausing to grab Len's shoulder and force him to look at her. For a while their eyes both met and he could finally understand what Rin meant when she told him,

"_Best friends are the stupidest, I guess,"_

"Len, please… don't tell Rin about me." She said, her eyes filled with poorly hidden desperation before forcing on a lighter tone, "I want to surprise her!" She laughed, turning away, and Len could hear her bells of laughter in his ears.

He watched as she ran out of the café, her teal hair spreading from behind her like a waterfall. He closed his eyes and leaned back on the woody chair, thinking that if Rin never mentioned her to him, then there must be something wrong with the both of them. But he wasn't going to let Rin know by himself. If anything, he'll keep quiet.

It wasn't any of his business, anyway.

* * *

><p>Rin collapses as soon as she hits the clearing. Maybe she shouldn't have eaten those cranberries; they made her feel sick enough to vomit it all out.<p>

Len glances down at her worriedly, his hands in his pockets, unsure of what to do. Slowly he sits down next to her, rubbing her head with his knuckles in a comforting circular massage. He often used to do this when Leon had hangovers, and with him retching all over the place Len was forced to do something. He used to hate doing this, but when it's come to this situation maybe he didn't anymore.

Rin lets out a low groan, her fingers clawing the grass. Len creased his eyebrows in worry, and seeing no other option, carefully moves her so her head could lie on his lap. She squirmed and pulled him closer to her. Len's cheeks burned, but then he noticed she was asleep so maybe he could ignore it.

But then, who ignores a vulnerable, sleeping girl on his lap?

Len was that kind of person.

But looking at the situation, Rin was sick. He noticed by the way she breathed heavily on him, her face buried in his jacket. She was shivering in the heat, and coughing slightly. Len didn't complain or be disgusted, and felt just a tiny maybe more than tiny concern for Rin. There was also a strange clench of his chest – but he could just be imagining it.

He ran his hand through her hair and resisted the strange urge to bury his head in it. _Weird, _he thought, _I'm acting really freaking weird. _But he ignored himself too. Instead, it struck him that he couldn't just leave Rin in here, and he didn't know her house, number, and really anything about her. He panicked for a second on the thought of putting Rin down in the middle of a cold forest in sunset, and then just decided to wake her up.

But he won't wake her up right now. Probably because he liked the way she felt near him. Or not.

The first thing Len noticed was that she had yellow nails. It was a weird thing to notice, especially because he was never someone to like painted nails anyway. For some reason, that odd shade of yellow (so… bright. It was a screaming color) suited her like her hair did. In fact, her entire wardrobe was screaming color, bright and happy.

Rin was like that. She was bright and happy, smiling and so easy to love. But Len knew (it was a perk to being a wallflower – and yes, he did know that book reference – being the unnoticeable fly on the wall allows you to certain information) that these people are the ones with the darkest experiences, and the more cheery outside the sadder inside. Len wondered what Rin was hiding, and for once he wanted to know it.

Was she like him? Social outcast, Shitty parent-son relationship?

Was she like his uncle, a load of baggage bending her back?

Or did she have someone to regret?

A thought struck him. Teal hair flowing behind a slender back like a waterfall. Matching blue eyes, fashionable clothes and Rin's best friend… Miku. Was she it? Somehow it felt like Miku and Rin could have been best friends, so Len doubted it, but what if not?

What if Miku was the reason why Rin was like this?

Then again, he was probably just overthinking it. It was something he was prone to do, and Rin might just be what she is. Happy, full of life, all smiles..., the works. It was only gut instinct telling him that Rin might have something to hide, and a part of him did believe it. But most of him just didn't want to destroy that image of the perfect girl in his mind. So he locked it away, deep, deep, deep in the lowermost layer of his puny brain.

He knew he was a coward. He knew he doesn't have the guts to be closer to Rin in a way he never imagined, but he was only just trying to preserve this friendship. He didn't need something more if he was fine with what was now, and he wasn't sure if he liked her that way either. Hormones, he decided, were laying siege on his brain.

Of course. He was always the logical one in the family.

(He was also the one with the terrible sense of humor.)

Len felt Rin shift on him, and he decided he should wake her up now if he wanted to at all. It's not like he could take her to his house after all, right? "Rin," Len whispered in her ear (because it was always effective to wake someone up that way) while he poked her shoulder. "Rin… wake up… or I'll definitely wake you up another way."

Rin's eyes snapped open widely, and her face turned a new shade of red at how close Len was. She pushed him away of course with her free hand (the other was holding his t-shirt and she didn't exactly want to let go), and then realized where her head was laying down.

She just got to sleep on his lap. She didn't know whether to be embarrassed or very grateful.

The blonde tried to get up, (Len had to dodge her head as she did so) and found out that she sat up too quickly. Black circles danced in her eyes, coating her eyesight in darkness. Her head throbbed with a sudden sharp pain, and she swayed side to side unsteadily. Len caught her before she hit her head on the dirt, and laid her on his lap. They both had a slight red tinge on their faces, but Len thought hers was because of the fever, and she thought his was because of her not-so-stellar eyesight.

In the end, they both had the same reason why, but it's not like they'll ever admit it to each other.

Rin fought to stay awake as her eyes kept fluttering closed (she didn't know why though, pride perhaps? But Len's lap felt so comfortable…). Len saw this and hurriedly spit out his question. "Uh… Rin! Where do you live? How do I get there?"

Her throat felt scratchy and overused but she croaked out an answer anyway. "I'll go back there myself… No need to worry, Len."

Len fought back a scoff. "Rin, you can't go anywhere in this condition."

"I can… Definitely…" She grabbed Len's shoulder and pulled herself up, a lot more slowly this time. The black dots appeared but she shook them off and stood up shakily. Len watched her tensely, wanting to reach out for her, but knowing he couldn't stop her anyway. Instead he continued to observe as she took a few steps swaying slightly before she just fell and groaned into the dirt.

"Uuuuurrgghhh" Rin complained before she felt arms wrap around her waist and knees. She sighed and was too sick to even blush as Len picked her up off the ground, instead choosing to snuggle closer to him and clutch his shirt. Hey, sickness could actually be good sometimes huh?

She would giggle if she had the strength.

Len didn't mind, concluding she was too sick to care about things like that. Instead he asked her where to go to her house, and she groggily gave the directions, wrapping her arms around him and moaning in his shirt. Len jumped but brushed it off, because she was sick. She was being delusional really, and she couldn't think straight. That was it. That was, he thought (not sadly of course, just apathetic really), all there was to it.

He sneakily avoided other people because that would be way too awkward. It would be _really_ weird, because he was sort of looking like a kidnapper here, even though his supposed "victim" was clinging on to him with fervour. Was she really that afraid of being dropped? She was actually quite light, so he didn't know why she was so scared.

As he neared a house, she stopped speaking, and Len thought that this might be the right one after all. It was quite secluded really, private and out of the way, and not so far from his own residence (he refused to call it home). His arms were sort of full by that time and he wondered what he was going to do before someone conveniently did it for him.

A black haired and gray eyed woman slammed the door open so hard the sound still resounded in Len's ears after a few seconds. Her eyes widened a bit as she set her gaze on him, and then her eyes traveled down to the now sleeping Rin in his arms. He wondered if he got the right house again, but then from what he gathered Rin basically knew everyone here. This person would probably help her, and then he realized…

He could have just met someone on the street and odds were, she/he would help her.

But no, Len wasn't about to give away Rin so easily to some weirdo he met on the street. That person could be a kidnapper or a murderer, and a liar too. Besides, Rin didn't seem to want to meet anyone either, as she had guided him to an almost empty street in the town. He suddenly thought of the fact that she wouldn't let go of him even in sleep, and he didn't know whether to feel annoyed or happy.

The happy side is so winning though.

"Who the hell are you?" The woman growled, and for a second he saw a flash of recognition in her eyes, but that was quickly snuffed out with anger. "And what did you do to my daughter?"

Oh, so she's her mother, Len noted. They actually did look like each other; they had the same cheekbones and eye shape, nose and everything. The color was very off though, while Rin had her blonde and blue eyed look, her mother had the complete opposite – black and gray eyed. Now though, her mother's features were contorted in a mixture of worry and tension.

"Uh… Rin got sick, so she guided me to where her home was so I can drop her off there."

"Really? …Whatever, just give her here." The woman outstretched her arms, and Len looked disbelievingly at the thin knobbly hands that couldn't possibly carry Rin. She sighed and just took her herself, not even flinching at the weight. Len's eyebrow rose, but then waved the thought away from his brain that Rin's family might just be full of weirdos.

Rin's mother took her away from him, and so he turned around to leave when her voice stopped him short. "Hey, where are you going? Come inside and have some tea."

Len looked back in barely concealed shock. "No thank you, ma'am. I need to get home myself anyway." Or maybe he could skip that and just get coffee somewhere.

"Nonsense. You can stay here for a bit, you know."

"Really, I can't – "

"I already have tea, and I can't drink it with my daughter right now… so just get in." Hana said (more like commanded, really) with a smile, already coming back inside. She heard the boy sigh and silently walk in himself, and she smirked in victory. So this was the boy in the drawing, hmm… Rin drew him perfectly. And Rin! For some reason her daughter was unconscious and very, very sick from what she could see. She sighed, it would be hell to give her medicine.

She turned around to the stairs, "Stay on the living room sofa. I'll come back soon."

And that's what Len did exactly, already regretting his decision to stay. He was never good with older people, and that wasn't really his fault because they didn't respect him either. It was all fair and done, so he never got along with his relatives, teachers, or random people on the street that he knew peripherally. This was a first time experience for him (Gakupo's parents were always wandering around the world; they never met).

Hana came back to find the boy sitting obediently on the sofa, staring at space like a lost puppy. She resisted the urge to laugh, and just flopped down the chair, ignoring the creak that came with it. Studying the boy carefully, she crossed her arms and glared at him. "Well, boy. My name is Hana Nakahara, and you can call me Hana. Only Hana, not anything else because that makes me feel old. Anyway, I gave you my name, you can give me yours."

Len blinked at her owlishly before recovering from the abrupt introduction. "Nice to meet you… Hana. My name is Len Kagamine."

Hana's eyes widened and she realized that she was stupid for not thinking. She didn't recognize the boy at all, so it would make sense that he didn't come from around here. "The son of that new family around here?"

"Yes," Len muttered, wondering how almost everyone seemed to recognize his name. So much for being discreet.

"Well, let's cut to the chase. What are you to Rin?" Hana was very suspicious of this guy. Barely a week since he moved here, and he had already been familiar with her daughter. How did they even meet anyway? Len didn't seem like the type to be energetic and meet people (unlike her daughter, maybe that's how they became… whatever they are right now).

Len took some time to answer. He wasn't really sure of what he was to Rin, but he was very sure they were at least friends. It was just weird, the way they automatically got along even though they just met. Maybe they really were true friends after all, he didn't know. "Friends."

"How did you even meet her anyway?"

"Coincidence. We just met at the same time, same place and all that." By now, he wasn't really caring whether or not his words were being placed carefully for Rin's mother. Screw being friendly, he just wanted to get out of here.

"Really… how was your time here so far?" Seeing his discomfort, she changed the subject.

"It was fine enough. Met a few people, all that." Len said vaguely, taking hold of a teacup on the coffee table. It was filled with something brown, steaming hot, and aromatic. His eyes flicked towards Hana, who was calmly sipping from her own cup.

"Hm… do you know how Rin got sick?"

"No, not really. We just er…" He didn't really want to tell Hana about how they meet for some reason. It kind of felt personal, and he really didn't want anyone either than Rin to know about it. It was ridiculous, he knew, but still. "Kind of saw each other again, and then she looked ready to faint."

"So you just carried her here?"

"Yeah, she tried to go herself, but she couldn't so…"

"I see. Do your parents know where you are right now?"

Len wondered a bit about that. _What _are _my parents doing right now, I wonder? _He considered lying for a while but as he looked into Hana's steel gaze, he decided that might not be the best thing to do. "I don't think they do, but I'm sure they're not worried." _They probably don't care._

A comfortable silence passed as they both sipped tea, and Len was surprised at the satisfying flavour. _Everyone here can make nice drinks, hm…_ "This tastes really good."

Hana smiled at him, not the this-smile-is-fake smile but the normal, happy smile. "Yeah, it's a new flavour from mixing tea leaves together. Glad you like it." She paused, "Len, you seem like a good person."

Len didn't know what to say to that, so he just continued to stare at her in an awkward manner. She continued, "Do me a favour, will you? Be a good friend to Rin. It seems like she needs it nowadays."

Len nodded, setting his tea cup down. "I'll do my best to be her friend, Hana. It was nice meeting you." He stood up and Hana nodded. "You too, Len. Hurry home." Their conversation was short and pointless, but it gave Hana a lot of clues about Len. There were some things her daughter was definitely hiding from her after all.

As Len pointlessly wandered around town, he couldn't help but remember his own mother, and how she cringed whenever she saw him.

* * *

><p>Gumi walked carefully inside her sorry excuse for a home, careful not to alert anyone to her presence as she tiptoed across the living room. She whooped at her silent victory at the foot of the stairs before a strict, familiar voice stopped her from the kitchen doorway. Gumi turned around to find her sister, her arms crossed and glaring at her.<p>

"Meiko," She whispered. "Good evening!"

Meiko's brown eyes narrowed, but she didn't move a step from where she was. Instead she spat out hatefully, "And I thought I finally got rid of you. Why did you come back?"

Gumi pouted, used to her sister's behavior. She turned away from the stairs and approached her sister, knowing that there was no getting out of this if she was caught. "Hey, you'll house Miku and I for some days right?"

"Why did you come back?"'

The green haired girl ignored Meiko's question again. "Her stuff are already here, she'll be sleeping in my room with me." She turned away from her, moving faster up the stairs. Unfortunately, Meiko moved quicker and grabbed her arm before she could disappear fully upstairs.

"Listen, Gumi. I don't care what you do anymore, I never did, but let me tell you, if you fuck with the Hatsune family it won't be good for any of us. You know they're the richest people here, and yet you practically kidnap their prized daughter! Do they know that Miku's here!?"

Gumi sighed and tried to pry her hand off Meiko's steel grip. "They do, Miku said she'll tell them. Don't be so concerned with me, sis. It doesn't suit you."

"Don't call me that!" Meiko hissed. "I'm not concerned with you, Gumi. Never. But there are just some things you need a warning on. Don't you dare disgrace Mom and Dad… even if they're dead you're still their child!"

Gumi's eyes widened at the mention of their parents. Meiko _never_ talks about them, never even hints about them. It's come to the point where she didn't really care about them any longer. "If this is disgracing them, then it already happened long ago. Just let me be."

"Gumi… you disgust me." Meiko dropped her arm and turned away from her, disappearing downstairs. Gumi cringed at her sister's words, but ignored them and ran into her room.

"_Are you sure your sister won't be bothered by this?" Miku asked, walking side by side with her._

"_Of course not," she snorted. "She likes to pretend I don't exist most of the time, so it's alright anyway. You can definitely stay with me."_

Maybe she'll have to rethink that.

* * *

><p>"Hey Len," Rin said, "Thanks again for carrying me back home."<p>

Len barely looked up from the book he was reading. "No problem."

"But, um... what did you mean when you said you'd wake me up _another way?_"

"... Nothing, Rin. Absolutely nothing."

* * *

><p><strong>Review!<strong>


End file.
